felt keychains

Hello everyone!  Sorry about the little break between posts.  I've been busy making prototypes for a new little project for my re-opened etsy shop Noraneko Alley.  (This is the same shop that I used to run before with a group of friends, but this time both my current shop Ura Michi and Noraneko Alley will be run by myself only)

I started making felt donuts like I used to, which you can see by backtracking this blog.  You can see the work-in-progress ones in the photo with all the brown felt pieces.  The brightly colored ones are key chains for screen-cleaning.  One side is felt, while the other side is a lint-free cleaning cloth.  A hint for the decorative appliques is in the middle!

Hopefully it wont take long for me to finish these up and have them uploaded to the shop.

Back Home for the Time Being

I got the opportunity to head back to my parents' place for the weekend, so I'm taking advantage of it to spend some time with the furry family again. 

Not much other exciting news going on currently.  I'm finally working on more cat pebbles ever since I sold out of them some months before on my Etsy shop.  About time, right?  I'll have a handful of new cat-shaped worry stones in varying color patterns soon.  They are already made and sitting out to dry so I can paint different fur colors onto them later. 

I may go back to making some super bright-colored felt and fleece goods to have at artist alleys in future cons as well.  Let's see how smoothly that goes.

pork chops plus alpha - ポークチャップの トマトとワイン煮

Just a quick update on cooking for tonight.  The goal was to get rid of a few random ingredients sitting in the fridge for too long. (that and the cooking wine that's been in the pantry for however long)  I guess this is a problem when you share a kitchen with three other people and you're not quite sure of what supplies belong to whom.

今日は冷蔵庫の残り物を片付ける事を目標に夕飯を作ってみました。
ゴールはいつから置いてあったかちょっと思い出せない赤ワインを使い切ること。。。
メニューはポークチャップの トマトとワイン煮。サイドはケールとレンティルのサラダとポテト。

So I wanted to finish some random pork shoulder and bits of vegetables, but I'm honestly very paranoid about cooking pork without having any pink left over.  Not that I don't mind rare meat, but I don't really trust pork very much.  My answer was making pork chops simmered in a little extra sauce to bump up the amount of veggies versus meat on the plate.  I simply cooked some pork chops medium rare (make sure to have all sides of the meat well-grilled, this keeps the juices and flavor of the meat from seeping away too much into the sauce) and simmered them in a tomato and red wine "sauce" for about 10 minutes on low heat.

The so-called sauce was actually similar to a stew; just sauteed onions, carrots, and broccoli with olive oil, salt and garlic.  Then add diced tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, and plenty of red wine, black pepper, basil, and oregano all simmered for a good 10 to 20 minutes on low to medium heat.  It's actually good on it's own, but a few heaping spoonfuls added per serving of pork chops makes it so much better without getting rid of the grilled flavor.

残念ながらまたウチの適当クッキングで調味料は量ってません。
肉は豚肩ロースを前もって赤ワインとコショウに付けておいたもの。両面をしっかり焼いてから別の鍋で作ったトマト煮を加えて １０分ほど中火でコトコト煮詰めるだけ。

トマト煮はタマネギ、人参などの野菜（今回はブロッコリーも入ってます）をオリーブオイルとニンニクで炒めた後トマト缶を加えて１０〜２０分ほど弱火で放置。
味付けはトマト缶を入れた後すぐに塩とウスターソースを少々、そしてオレガノ、バジル、コショウ、と赤ワインをたっぷり目に。
赤ワインの酒臭さがしなくなるまでしっかり煮るのがポイント。（そうでないとワインが強調しすぎて他の味がわかりにくくなるよ。場合によっては中火で煮てもおk）
お子様向けはワインを少なめ、代わりにケチャップを少し入れると甘くなります。

本当にレシピがわかりにくくてすみません。
調味料を量りながら料理をする事が出来ないと言う変な女子大生です。

Off to the sides of the plate are a simple kale and lentil salad with vinaigrette and some roasted potatoes.

And for dessert?  Homemade banana bread with wine-soaked prunes, cinnamon, and walnuts.
デザートには今日の午後あたりに焼いたアメリカ風のバナナブレッド。母に子供の頃から作ってもらってたレシピです。
中にプルーンのワイン漬け、クルミとシナモンが入ってます。

Whoever said college students can't cook? :)
大学生だって、食べたい時にはちゃんと料理するんですよ！
。。。たぶん。

Owls and... more owls.

So the owl-shaped phone cases I was making out of upholstery fabric samples (from my previous post) are finally done and up on Etsy!  They were very fun to make, but like most upholstery fabric, they were also very difficult to hand-sew.  Then again, there were at least 4 layers of fabric sewn together at once on each of these.


In other news, there seems to be a bad thunderstorm coming soon here.  It seems hard to believe with the extremely hot and sunny sky I can see out my window right now, but I guess all of us in the Midwestern U.S.  area should keep an eye out anyways.  As long as the rain doesn't stick around till the farmers' market I guess I don't mind.  The fridge is running out of vegetables fast thanks to my roommates...

Guess Who?

 Maybe the title should have been Guess 'Hoot' instead.

Starting on new projects based on some old ideas is more refreshing than you would expect.

It's been a while since I went back to making my patchwork owl phone cases, or at least that's what I think.  The last time I made them was all the way back in March. (I should really stop abandoning past designs.)

But giving it some time does have its benefits in the way you have a bit more knowledge and skill by the time you come back to the project, to really achieve your original idea.  Looking at the work for a while also makes your eyes glaze over any imperfections, so it's good to let your eyes refresh and come back to it later.  By the way, this is also a good method for a lot of other work like writing essays.  I promise you will notice typos much quicker if you take a break and come back to it later.

Does anyone else have similar ways of procrastinating working as well? 

Away From Home

Wow, May went by quickly.

I'm finally back from my short visit to my parents' place for the summer.  I've just unpacked and gotten settled down in my apartment again, and I'm already missing my little furry family back home.  (the human family doesn't count since I can call them anytime I want)

先月までちょっと休みを利用して実家まで遊びに行ってました。
ちょうど昨日アパートに戻ってきたばかり。
一晩しかたってないのに実家に置いてきたネコ達が恋しいです。
今は親兄弟が面倒見てくれてますけど、いつかまともな給料がもらえたらアニーとピーティー（下の写真）だけでも一緒に暮らせるようになりたいな。

The ever attentive Annie (gray) and Petey (orange) watching the neighbors' kids outside.

 Panther being his usual lazy self.

 and... Pickles.  If you can tell where she is on that couch.

I assume this look means "I'll get you for waking me up later, human."

I'm still dreaming of the day I can afford a place that allows pets, so I can bring at least Annie and Petey with me...

Coming back...?

Now this is embarrassing.  I haven't posted very often, have I?  Hopefully this will be changed with the craft-filled summer that is about to begin.

For those unaware, I was mostly busy with working on my senior thesis and BFA exhibition... as well as graduation!  Now, not that I'm trying to confuse you, but I technically haven't graduated yet even though I've walked.  I will be student teaching in the fall, and THEN I get my degrees.  Yeah, confusing right?

Here's just a few images from the projects I've been working on for my Bachelors in Fine Arts degree...

 As part of an experiment I participated at the Hatch Art Festival in Champaign, IL and sold these owl phone cases made with upcycled upholstery fabric samples.

 More birds!  Most of my exhibition consisted of these art dolls interacting with found vintage objects.

...and to top it all off, a giant centipede plush.  I still consider it an art doll though.

This summer will consist of updating my Etsy shop, and possibly re-opening my older account filled with super brightly colored pop accessories.  I may also update with costume making for Anime Central next year.  (I'm making maybe 5 costumes for various people) Let's see how this will work out!  Wish me luck!

A Surprising Return

Hello to anyone who is nice enough to still check up on this site! ;u;  I'm quite sure that many people have noticed the lack of updates here yet again, and I apologize.  It scares me a bit how long it has been since my last post. 

There has been some scary things going on in real life this year, which I do not plan to explain all of.  It has just been a lot of strange and unfortunate coincidences with funerals, friends and family in peril, and a few of my own personal issues. 

I HAVE been making things on a regular basis though.  Crafting, art, and cooking has been a big healer for me as I struggled through the end of 2011 and the first half of 2012.  The major support from friends and family has also kept me going, so one good thing that came out of the many ordeals is how it cleared up who are the really important people in my life. 
Here's just a few photos showing some things that's been going on during my break from blogging:

 A pink bunny plushie replica from Tiger & Bunny for a friend.  It's obviously lumpy from being hugged one too many times.  :) I may make more to be sold if anyone wants one for themselves or for a cosplay prop.

Here's a prototype for some round coin purses with colors/patterns inspired by Touhou characters.  I might ditch this pattern though and try out different shapes... perfectly circular patterns was harder than I expected.

My sweet little puppy!  Well, not quite a puppy anymore.  She's getting more gray hairs but she still reminds me why it's good to make emergency trips back to my parent's house every now and then.

From a fireworks show I visited with a few friends for 4th of July.  Unfortunately my camera was not very good at capturing the greatness of the giant fireworks... but it was still fun!

I won't be crafting for a bit since I need to pack up everything to move to a different apartment soon... but once I'm moved in I plan to change that!  Hopefully there will be many more creations and fun times to come.

肉団子スープ。。。

大学の近くのアパートに引っ越してから５日たちました。毎日のんびりたのしんでいますwww

月曜日からは授業が始まります。。。それまでに冷凍庫に作り置きのおかずをためなければ！

今日は野菜いっぱいのパスタソースを大量に作りました。しばらくは野菜不足は避けられるはず。

昨日は冷凍用の餃子を作っていたら皮が足りなくなってしまい、タネだけ残ってしまいどうしようかと悩んで片栗粉を入れて肉団子と白菜のスープをまた大量に作ってしまいました。

具だくさんのスープにごはん、手作りキュウリの漬物、そしてこの前つくった肉じゃがときんぴらごぼうをおいしくいただきました。こんなに手作り料理ばかり食べている大学生はこのへんにはいないかも。。。（ちなみにきんぴらのレシピはこちらを参考にしました。http://www.sirogohan.com/　私のお気に入りのレシピのサイトです！）

さぁ、明日の朝は大好きなファーマーズ・マーケット！おいしい果物と野菜を友達と一緒に探しに行ってきます！明日は何を作ろうかな。。。

Mealy Peaches Quick-fix

数日前に母が買ってきた桃（ホワイトピーチ）がちょうど食べごろと思い切ってみたら中身はずいぶん残念な感じでした。所々ガリガリ、他はパサパサ、色は白とピンクではなくてちょっと茶色。。。

ちょっとがっかり。

でもこれはアメリカのスーパーで買い物をしていたらけっこうよくあることです。木でちゃんと熟す前に収穫される果物が多いせいでこんな事もあたりまえ。

なんとかこのパサパサな桃を使おうと思い作ってみたのはラズベリーと桃のスパイスジャム。

Some days ago my mom bought a few white peaches that smelled delicious, but when I sliced one open last night there was a not-so-nice surprise.

痣になっているところは切り落として種の周りの果肉も少しとってしまいます。後は皮を剥いて適当に薄くスライスします。

The infamous brown center and mealy bits of un-flavorful fruit. Ugh! I was very upset and ended up leaving it in the fridge because I didn't know what to do with it. I tasted a tiny slice and it was crunchy in certain places and some of it still had a decent flavor while other part were very mealy and dry. Unfortunately the other peaches were the same way. This morning I decided there has to be something these can be used for, and decided to make a quick peach jam. I sliced all of the peaches thinly as shown below to save the crunchy bits for texture:

切ったらこんな感じ。小さめな桃二個分で２８０gくらい。

冷凍庫に庭でとれたラズベリーを９０gほど残してあったのでそれも一緒に鍋に入れちゃいます。桃とラズベリーと一緒に鍋に次の材料を入れます：

砂糖　２００g

レモン汁　少々

オレンジ　二切れほどを手でちぎったもの

シナモン　少々

すべて鍋で直接混ぜ合わせてふたをしたら一時間ほどおいておきます。

I finished slicing 2 medium peaches (weighed about 280 g) and I realized I still had about 90 g of raspberries from my garden that I saved in the freezer. I decided I'll go with a spiced peach-raspberry jam. Here's what I used:

- 2 medium peaches sliced (280 g)

- 90 g frozen raspberries

- 200 g granulated sugar

- lemon juice (not measured)

- tart orange segments (pith removed, not measured. Probably 1 or 2 slices worth)

- ground cinnamon (not measured, yet again lol)

- 1/2 pack of unflavored gelatin (a little more than 7 g I think?) or pectin. I used gelatin because I was out of pectin and didn't want to go shopping.

このままだとあまりおいしそうには見えないですねwww　なんかグチャグチャ。。。

Mix everything other than the gelatin (which I let sit in a little water off to the side) in a pot and let sit with a lid on it for a while. I baked a pizza for lunch while I waited. The jam doesn't look very appetizing at first...

しばらくおいておくとこんな感じに水分がでてきます。きれいなワイン色になるはずです。

ここで中火から弱火でコトコト煮ます。様子を見ながら丁寧に灰汁を取るのが大事。

桃が透明になって柔らかくなるまで煮てください。このまま冷やせばアイスなどに合うソースができあがり。ジャムを作る場合はペクチンかゼラチンを袋の半分（３〜４gくらい？）水でふやかしたものを入れてください。今度は手元にペクチンが無かったのでゼラチンで作りました。

After about an hour it looks like this. Then I put it on low to medium heat until it comes to a boil and the peaches are tender. Also remember to remove the froth as much as possible. Then I add the gelatin and mix well to make it consistent.

後は消毒したガラス瓶につめるだけ。ホワイトピーチで作るとまろやかでちょっと大人の味なスパイシーなジャムの出来上がり。イエローピーチで作ったら多分もうちょっと酸味が強いはず？

明日大学に戻るので新しいアパートに引っ越すときに一瓶もっていきます！ルームメイトと一緒に朝ご飯にたべたいと思います。

Last but not least, pour into sterilized jars and you're done! If you don't add gelatin or pectin, this stuff makes a great sauce for ice-cream. I'll be taking a jar with me to my new apartment tomorrow.

Orange Ginger and Raspberries

なっ、なんと！私のベイクドチージケーキのレシピがSozai Banzaiのメニューに載ることになりました〜！可愛いカップケーキ型にしてブルーベリーのジャムを少し上にのせて。。。

もうちょっとスフレのようにふっくら焼けたら完璧。

大きいケーキだと気にしないのに、カップケーキだとどうにもふくらみ方が足りない。。。

Good news, my cheesecake recipe will officially be on the menu at Sozai Banzai! They will be in forms of little cupcakes with a blueberry filling sitting in the middle. I'm actually trying to think of a good way to keep them from sinking as they cool, which works fine with bigger cakes. Does anyone have any suggestions? I plan to try adding baking powder or whipping the egg whites before adding them...

今日はオレンジ・ジンジャーマフィンを焼きました。少しオレンジのつぶつぶが多かったみたいでオーブンから出したらグツグツ音を立ててました。あれ。。。ちょっと失敗したかもwww

でもしっとりしててスパイスの効いたおいしいプチマフィンができあがり。

ついでに庭のラズベリーを少し摘んできました。今日食べる分を少し分けておいて、あとは冷凍庫に。ある程度たまったら大学に持って行くジャムを作るつもりです。

Anyways, I tried baking some orange ginger muffins. I think I used too much fresh orange since I could here it bubbling as I took it out of the oven. I don't think muffins are supposed to do that... lol. They still tasted pretty good though. That and I went out to pick some raspberries in my yard that are finally beginning to ripen. I'll save some of them at each harvest and freeze them. Once I have a lot saved up I'll make some jam to take with me to the university.

Cheesecake is a success!

So this morning the first thing I did was to try a taste of my homemade cheesecake with my dad lol. It turned out better than I expected! Although I think I might want to add a bit more lemon zest next time.

The juneberries in my yard are nice and ripe, but it seems the birds got to get a taste of them before me. I haven't been noticing these little changes in my yard. Working all day has its drawbacks I guess... but what's left of the berries are still good. :) I guess I wont be making jam until the raspberries are ripe in about a week or so.

Baked Lemon Cheesecake

Hmm, seems to be a pattern that I update only every now and then. I really need to fix this, so much has been happening in my life to not blog about! I recently found a new part-time job at a Japanese restaurant and take-out called Sozai Banzai that offers homestyle Japanese cooking; the kind of stuff that reminds you of mom's cooking back home. The people there are great and it's fun working with them. They are also giving me a chance to help think up of dessert menus which is literally non-existent at the moment, so I am trying out a bunch of recipes I have on hand to see if they are worthy of being a good afternoon treat or dessert after a meal. This Friday we will serve shiratama anmitsu for a limited time only!

Today I tried baking a simple lemon cheesecake. I haven't made this in forever! It's best to leave this cake in the fridge overnight rather than eating it fresh baked. (which many people find it hard to believe but trust me! )

Like macarons and many other desserts, this cheesecake is best eaten the day after it is baked. Freshness does not always mean the best! So technically I wont know how this baby turned out till tomorrow. Although I have to admit it looks perfectly good to me at the moment. I can't wait to see the creamy white cake on the inside once I slice it. Maybe I will make juneberry jam and whipped cream to go with it while I wait. My raspberry bush isn't quite ready for harvest yet to make raspberry jam.

Here's what the cake looks right out of the oven. Notice that the center is still plump and the crust fills the entire pan. As the cake cools, the still-liquid center will deflate and sink. Don't worry, it is supposed to do that! :) Unfortunately I wont be uploading the recipe even if I find out tomorrow that it's good or not since it will possibly be in the restaurant if it's approved by the staff. Hopefully I will have good news about the taste to report tomorrow!

making strawberry mochi

Hi guys! Long time no blogging. Being a junior catching up with painting studio in college is a lot more difficult than I thought, I'm working on my final project now and getting ready for a second gallery showing next month as well. But while the weather is getting a little better, I decided to have a little picnic with some friends for a mock-Hanami. Since we didn't have some nice cherry blossom trees to gaze at, we picked some nice magnolia trees nearby instead. We all made lunch and I made ichigo daifuku and dango. They may seem like hard desserts to make but rest assured it's easier and cheaper to makethan buying expensive pre-made ones. Here's a recipe for the ichigo daifuku translated to U.S.measurements for those without Japanese measuring cups (they are different from U.S. cups so watch out if you're using a Japanese recipe)

3/4 cups sweet rice flour (also called mochiko or sticky rice flour) <- make sure you don't use regular rice flour or else it wont turn out right!!

!

2.5 tbsp sugar

180 ml water

sweet red bean paste (usually comes in bags or small cans)

potato starch or corn starch to keep your cutting

board and hands clean

12-15 small strawberries

1. Wash and cut stem off of small strawberries

2. use a sheet of plastic wrap or a spoon/knife to spread a thin layer of red bean paste around the strawberries. It's easy to dab some red bean onto plastic wrap, put a strawberry on top, and wrap the plastic like a candy wrapper to cleanly cover the strawberry.

3. mix sweet rice flour, sugar and water in a microwavable container with a lid and microwave for 2 minutes

4. mix contents well, a portion of it should start turning transparent

5. microwave again for 2 minutes and the entire batter should turn semi-transparent. Mix well again. It should be very sticky and stretchy. Mine is slightly tan because I used half brown sugar, half granulated.

6. cover a large cutting board with potato starch like you're baking cookies and empty the sticky rice mixture onto the cutting board. Cut into 12-15 pieces.

7. Knead each piece of rice mixture into a thin sheet using starch to keep it from sticking to yourself.

8. Put the covered strawberry in the middle with the point of the berry at the center of the sticky rice and gather the edged at the bottom of the strawberry. Pinch the edges together to make them stick and hold together. Be careful not to tear any holes into the sticky rice!

Hint: the rice will start to stiffen when cooled so do all the wrapping while it is still hot! This can be kept overnight in the fridge and still taste good, but will only last a few days total.

Valentine cookies

I made some simple chocolate, strawberry and vanilla wafers yesterday with some friends for Valentine's Day (which is quite the excuse, I just wanted to use up the extra unsalted butter and flour sitting in my room at the dorm lol).

My friend suggested making "naruto" cookies shaped like naruto fish cakes (the little white slices with a pink swirl, it's used as a topping for hot noodles a lot in Japan) but sadly I did not roll out the dough thin enough to make a proper swirl. They aren't as elegant as we'd like but they were delicious nonetheless. Tonight I'll be handing them out to some friends who missed the baking yesterday.

A hint for the strawberry wafers: All I did was replace cocoa powder with strawberry jam in a normal chocolate wafer recipe, and added a drop of red food coloring. Oh, and I also doubled the amount of cocoa and strawberry for the dough by accident but they turned out MUCH better that way!

Felt Brooches/Pins

Here's some pins/brooches that I mentioned before! The embroidery is a pattern that is sewn onto kid's kimono collars as a protective charm. Maybe these pins will keep the wearer safe from harm. :)

They are made with felt, embroidery floss, and czech seed beads. The green one also uses recycled canvas from myself and fellow students at my university from making our own stretched canvases for painting. You never know when stuff like that will come in handy!

Japanese Embroidery

I've been going back to the embroidery I learned from my mom lately, thanks to a recent school project. I tried making a simple video for that project of me stitching a sample card of a semamori charm. A real semamori is stitched to your clothes though, this one was just made as a reference, and the video made an interesting intro for my presentation. :)

Untitled from Mikako Takai on Vimeo.

I've tried making some brooches/pins with this method too. I'll be uploading them soon!

Tragedy

I apologize for disappearing again... a bit of tragedy has struck my household for the past few months.

My sweet kitty Tamara after 18 long years of being with our family has gone to that big litter-box in the sky.

Ever since I was a toddler, she has graced our household with her queenly presence and jumped me from the fridge to nibble on my scalp (and I would run away screaming every time). But for the last few years she reverted back to being a sweet kitty that would drool in happiness as I pet her and fed her snacks on my lap. For the last few months she suddenly aged drastically, not being able to climb into her bed and going blind in one eye. We were hoping she would get better and my parents took good care of her while I was far away at the university.

She passed very peacefully next to my mother and me on Christmas Eve while the other cats watched worriedly by the door of our bedroom.

There's a story in Japan how cats that age past 13 or so will be a nekomata, or a demon cat. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, a nekomata is supposedly a spirit cat that has two tails and can speak and walk on two feet. (kind of like the puss in boots story) My mom and I would joke that our cat Tamara is not a normal cat, being 17 and still in great shape and bossing around the other pets. It feels odd that she's gone, it feels like she's still wandering around our home like the queen she was.

Sorry for the sudden change of pace, but hopefully I'll be back to my old crafting self soon...

I'm back!

Sorry I've been so busy lately...! I've been straddling three art studio courses along with normal lectures and participating in two clubs at the university. I originally had a pretty important role in one of the clubs, but I've decided to step down from my position because it has been keeping me from creating the art that I've wanted to work on for so long.

But before I cut off ties with the groups, there were two big events that I really wanted to participate in! One was 'Cruise for Cancer' sponsored by the Illini Longboarding Club, and the other a fashion show hosted by the Japan Intercultural Network. Here's some videos from the two events! I'm only in the second video though...

Now that the events are over, all I have to do is work on final art projects and get back into crafting! :)

Moving In...

I just moved back to the dorm yesterday, and I'm so beat! I've finally met my new roommate as well and I'm glad to know she fit in just fine with my quirky friends. :) Most people are scared away by my friends' sugar-induced energetic explosions but she seems ok. I was surprised when she was able to keep up with us. I imagine a very tiring semester of foolishness ahead of me... Now I must tend to my V-shaped sunburn on my neck from wearing a yukata all day in the blistering sun. Quad Day at UIUC is a very draining event when you are the one handing out fliers for a club!

In other news I start school tomorrow morning. Somehow I ended up with classes from 9AM to 9:20 PM... I will either drop a class or sleep like a log on my off-days. There really is not much time to be fooling around!